


Survive

by Punish_Me_Frank_Castle



Category: Black Panther (2018), Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-15 06:45:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14785491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Punish_Me_Frank_Castle/pseuds/Punish_Me_Frank_Castle
Summary: After Civil War Bucky is hiding out in Wakanda trying to fight his demons, it doesn't go like he thought it would.





	Survive

When he was captured by Hydra nothing was kept from them. They knew everything about their asset. The cluster of neatly written capital letters grouped on the top of his ribcage was found quickly. Those words affected the asset, made him compromised. They must be gotten rid of.

Bucky shot up in bed, sweat covering his body. He breathed heavily, his hand automatically going to his side, feeling the raised words on his skin, making sure they were still there. Out of all the horrors he had to endure during his time with Hydra, nothing stuck with him more than them trying to take his soulmate away from him. The words, surrounded by red scars, had stayed with him through everything. They always reappeared even when they had removed chunks of his body, peeled of his skin, burned his flesh. Despite Hydra’s attempts to remove them they had endured; he had endured.

Bucky got out of bed knowing there was no hope of him sleeping. He did what he always did, threw on a shirt and went to the gym. He quietly walked down the stairs to the lower levels of T’Challa’s compound. Ever since he was taken out of Cryo he had felt empty, like he was missing a part of himself, a part of his soul. He knew it was cheesy to phrase it like that but it was the only way that he could verbally describe it. Now that he could actually feel he had to find a way to cope. Before the war, before the serum, he would have drowned his feelings in a bottle. But now all he could do was punch sandbags until the pain of his bleeding knuckles drowned out the pain in his chest.

* * *

When T’Challa had first assigned him a guard from the Dora Milaje he had wanted to laugh. Not because he didn’t think the woman standing in front of him could protect him; he had seen how fierce the Dora Milaje could be. No he wanted to laugh because T’Challa thought that if anyone wanted to kill him that he would want to put up a fight. Bucky knew he should be happy, or at least not this depressed. He had most of his memory back, he was no longer in the hands of Hydra, he had Steve, a friend that literally defied the United Nations for him. But somehow Bucky still felt like he was more alone than ever. So as he studied the woman standing in front of him, there to protect him from others, all he could think of was who was going to protect him from himself?

* * *

The following week when he woke up screaming she was there. She sat with him as he put himself back together. She held his hand and comforted him, without ever saying a word. The next time it happened she had brought him tea. It was peppermint, his favorite that he used to scrounge up pennies to buy during the war. How she knew this he had no idea; but he was thankful all the same. He would grip the warm cup for dear life and she would place her hand on his shoulder for comfort, a way to let him know he was not alone. It had been three months before he noticed that the nightmares had come less and less. He didn’t even know her name despite how much time they spent together. They had never spoke but for some reason he knew she was the reason the dreams had stopped.

* * *

The first time he heard her speak she was bleeding and he was crying. Hydra had released another soldier to assassinate him. She had knew what was coming before he knew it himself. She had dove to protect him from the bullet. Her plan worked, she did save him from the red dot in the middle of his chest, by sacrificing herself. His hands were placed in the middle of his chest, putting pressure on the wound. He tried to ignore the warm blood gushing through his fingers. She was looking at him, smiling. Even as she lay there dying she was proud, she had done her duty. He pulled out the cell phone Steve had given to him, pressing the speed dial. He needed help, she was bleeding out, she was dying. When the voice answered all he did was give his location before he hung up. He needed to keep pressure on the wound.

In the rational part of his mind he knew there wasn’t any hope. She had lost way too much blood and they were in the middle of the jungle. But the more prominent part of his brain was begging, pleading with God that she would survive. 

The words were said before he had even realized he had opened his mouth.

“You’re not gonna die on me. I need you.”

She smiled again and lifted her blood stained hand to caress his face. “You are strong. You will survive this.”

He was sobbing now. His words were burning. She was the missing piece of his soul, what he had been longing for for so long and she was bleeding out in his arms.

Her hand fell back down to her side, her eyes flittered closed.

“No. You have to stay awake. Talk to me. Tell me something about you, anything. You have to stay awake!” His sight was blurry, tears seeped down his face. She didn’t respond. “What’s your name?” he asked desperately.

“Ayomide” she whispered with her last breath.

* * *

They gave her a warrior’s funeral. After it was over Bucky went back to his quarters not wanting to see anyone. He stood in front of the mirror in his room and lifted his shirt. He looked through the ash on the mirror and found his words. They were still there but they had lost their vibrancy. He brushed his fingers over them, feeling that they were cool to the touch. He dropped the hem of his shirt when he heard someone clearing their throat.

“You knew her name but did she tell you what it meant?” T’challa asked from the doorway.

Bucky shook his head.

“It meant ‘happiness is coming’. I feel it was destined to be her name. Maybe as a message for you.”

Bucky glared at the Prince now, crossing his arms over his chest. “How can I be happy when my soulmate, my other half, bled to death in my arms?”

“I do not know. But I do know that she had faith in you, as do I.”

* * *

Bucky sat with his head in his hands. His knuckles were raw and covered in dried blood. He was tired of feeling. He wanted to be numb. He wanted to be back in Cryo but her words stuck with him. She had believed in him, and so he would honor that. There was no strength in running away from the pain. The soldier had been active more and more lately. The nightmares were back and sometimes when he woke he wasn’t himself, he was the asset. The soldier wanted revenge. To hurt everyone like he had been hurt. He wanted Hydra killed and for once Bucky didn’t disagree. 

Bucky knew what he had to do. He shut his eyes and breathed in deeply. When he opened them again everything was different.

_Objective: Destroy Hydra_

_Parameters: No Survivors_

_Mission Accepted._

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts? :)


End file.
